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No prostate but rising PSA

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Posted 11/1/2013 11:22 AM (GMT 0)
Hi All,
I have a brother, not a part of this forum, who had his prostate removed and radiation treatment 3 years ago, but his PSA levels have gone up from .008 to .068, which is a considerable jump for someone without a Prostate. Has anyone else here experienced a similar situation? I didn't think PSA readings could exist without a Prostate?
Posted 11/1/2013 1:07 PM (GMT 0)
It could be testing differences or it could be that there was cancer the surgeon and radiation oncologist could not get to. The cancer gives off PSA as it is essentially mutated prostate cells. He needs to watch this very close as it could signal a recurrance. Next step will probably be hormone therapy (ADT).
Posted 11/1/2013 1:21 PM (GMT 0)
Yes, prostate cancer produces PSA in most cases. Some doctors use a PSA of 0.10 after surgery as recurrence but it varies by doctor. The criteria is different for radiation only patients. Advanced prostate cancer patients sometimes have PSA's over 1000.
There are calculators on the internet that compute PSA doubling time which can be important.
Good luck to you both.
Posted 11/1/2013 2:13 PM (GMT 0)

JNF said...
It could be testing differences or it could be that there was cancer the surgeon and radiation oncologist could not get to. The cancer gives off PSA as it is essentially mutated prostate cells. He needs to watch this very close as it could signal a recurrance. Next step will probably be hormone therapy (ADT).

Let's hope it's testing differences.....I'm thinking that they should have had him on HT in conjunction with his radiation, to weaken the cancerous cells during the radiation process.....thanks.
Posted 11/1/2013 2:14 PM (GMT 0)

robertC said...
Yes, prostate cancer produces PSA in most cases. Some doctors use a PSA of 0.10 after surgery as recurrence but it varies by doctor. The criteria is different for radiation only patients. Advanced prostate cancer patients sometimes have PSA's over 1000.
There are calculators on the internet that compute PSA doubling time which can be important.
Good luck to you both.

thanks....
Posted 11/1/2013 2:22 PM (GMT 0)
It's possible that there is some prostate tissue still around and also possible that there is some PC outside the prostate bed. Or as has been suggested, a change and/or problem with the last test.

A retest would be in order to confirm. Before worrying too much, you'd need to see a consistent rise over a number of tests before thinking the worse.

Three or four tests with increased numbers would be more worrying - PSA numbers can bounce around at the very low levels for lots of reasons that aren't PC related. They can still do the HT if the numbers keep going up and your brother still has plenty of treatment options down that path if the worst is true.

Andrew
Posted 11/1/2013 6:21 PM (GMT 0)
Like your brother, I have had both RP and Salvage Radiation. My uro has told me that he'd consider several consecutive readings at or above 0.05 (based on the accuracy of tests from the lab my hospital uses) as an indicator of a likely recurrence. This is a lower threshold than the 0.1 which is usually considered significant for someone who has had just surgery.

Your brother's reading of 0.068 is above this threshold, but if it is the only reading he's had that is this high it could be a testing anomaly. As someone else suggested, if it were me, I'd ask for retest. In the several years between my surgery and my salvage radiation I once received a test result that jumped from 0.04 to 0.4 in three months. My Uro ordered an immediate retest and fortunately the 0.4 turned out to be a faulty test result. If the retest doesn't contradict the 0.068 result, I'd want tests at least every 3 months going forward and after another similar or higher result would begin discussing options for further testing or treatment with my current doctors plus a medical oncologist who has experience treating prostate cancer--which doesn't mean that I would necessarily elect to start any further treatment based only on small but rising PSA results.
Posted 11/1/2013 7:33 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks guys....I knew I would find the best advice here!
Posted 1/16/2021 4:19 PM (GMT 0)
Post Prostate Existing PSA ; It Happened to my Brother in Law after total removal . Then they did radiation . Now they are gonna do a PET full body scan to try to find it ! Best Wishes my Friend.
Posted 1/17/2021 12:09 AM (GMT 0)
Baring a bad test, chances are your brother has recurrence.
Posted 1/17/2021 12:14 AM (GMT 0)
This is a 7 year old thread...
Posted 1/17/2021 11:22 AM (GMT 0)
What happened
Posted 1/18/2021 7:23 AM (GMT 0)
As you can see by my numbers below, my uPSA has never been zero. All the doctors I've talked to, and they are numerous, tell me not to worry until there's a major spike. So that's what I'm doing.

If anyone has specific medical studies that indicate otherwise, I'd love to see them, please.
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